lt is one of the most haunting photos in the Edmonton Journal archives: a picture of Thomas Svekla, dressed in a green camouflage jacket and tinted round sunglasses, smiling tauntingly at the camera, his finger held to his lips. “Shhhh,” he seems to be saying. “I’ve got a secret.”

Puerto Vallarta has many hidden delights

The Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta offers up all sorts of delights if you are ready to escape from the cocoon of your all-inclusive hotel.

The dancer named Fish came out near the end, after two dancers horsey-hopped through an odd Gangnam Style Zumba mix, a cluster of Michael Jacksons tugged their pleats in unison, and a dancer with a giftwrapped cardboard box on his head trundled to the front of the line and inspired a room full of Mexicans to shout along to the hook: "Every day I'm shuffling."

As the bass thumped back in, I turned to share a smile with my two companions whose wide-eyed looks said the same two things I was thinking: "WTF?" And "This is kind of awesome."

It was an unexpected delight on a Friday night in Puerto Vallarta, the immensely popular tourist beach haven on the Pacific coast of Mexico. I was checking out Nolitours; a new program pioneered by Canadian travel company Transat Holidays in the Dominican Republic designed to better connect all-inclusive-resort-loving Canadians with local culture. This stop at a local dance club in downtown Puerto Vallarta wasn't part of the extensive series of off-resort excursions that Nolitours offers, but it shows how the program can work as a kind of gateway drug to more authentic Mexican experiences. Even ones that are charmingly baffling.

Staying at the lovely Marival Residences and Spa in Nuevo Vallarta, just north of the city, in a grand 1,700-square-foot room that included a private rooftop infinity pool (just try to not get naked in it), we had spent several days enjoying the indulgences of the all-inclusive offerings and taking in some of Nolitours off-site excursions. The idea for Nolitours came about as a way of easing less adventurous travellers into connections with local communities. While there's nothing new about off-resort excursions, Montrealbased Transat has put Nolitours' focus on connecting with local Mexican culture.

For our trip, that meant a walking tour through the steep and cobbled streets of Puerto Vallarta where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton consummated the ultimate Hollywood Golden Age affair (the pink adobe bridge Taylor had built so she could visit Burton's pad without venturing into the street still stands). On another day, after visiting a market with a local foodie, where we squeeze-tested avocados the size of cantaloupe and brought freshly picked jicama to our noses, we were schooled in Mexican cooking at the private residence of a local chef. We rolled out of his home with our heads full of new ideas and our bellies full of steaming mole. We spent a day at a local orphanage, where we dropped off donated school supplies and diapers, had our hearts broken by stories of babies left on the stoop, then had them lifted by energetic children who taught us how to fold paper balloons from the torn-out pages of our note-pads and laughed uproariously at the hammy videos of themselves made on our iPhones.

At night, we were taken to a Nolizone's fiesta, a kind of traditional Mexican street party on training wheels.

Nolitours also provides a list of partner restaurants, where travellers can take in the city's vibrant restaurant scene by visiting establishments that have been scouted; some even offering pre-set menus for travellers. Our highlights included Le Leche, with it's all-white decor, which matches the everyday wardrobe of its flamboyant proprietor, and might have been gimmicky if it's food wasn't of such high quality.

One of the side benefits of the Nolitours approach is seeing wary travellers become emboldened to try new things, and create those unique memories that are key to enriching travel. A few days into our trip, powered by a little tequila and a beer served on ice in a giant Styrofoam cup at the Nolizone fiesta in Bucerias, I tagged along with a couple members of our group on an off-label midnight detour into the city of Puerto Vallarta in search of Fish. One of our group's members, a producer of web content scouting locations for a travel video, was put in touch with Fish, a local scenester and hip-hop dancer whose real name is unknown by pretty much everyone. So, we piled into a cab and followed some cryptic text messages into the night.

We found Fish awaiting us outside the club, wearing a trilby and a smile, and he greeted us in English. What greeted us wasn't a strobe-light nightclub assault like we were dreading, rather a dance floor crowded with Mexican couples of all ages, all unself-consciously doing the meringue. Couples took their seats, and a colourful series of amateur dance performances took the stage; from a 60-something couple doing a precise tango, to a group of 20-somethings haphazardly blending traditional Mexican styles with four-year-old American dance music, to Fish's muscular Polynesian solo.

And if we hadn't left the comfort of our all-inclusive, we would have missed it all.

IF YOU GO

Air Transat offers direct flights from Calgary to Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit.

Nolizone and Noitours packages are available through Transat Holidays at several properties in Puerto Vallarta and Riviera Nayarit. Visit nolizone.nolitours.com for details.

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